But, um, 4 point harnesses are safer than 3 point... It's not because racecar, at least in my mind.
4 point is a very bad idea if you don't have a roll cage. It holds your head in place to be crushed by the roof.
But, um, 4 point harnesses are safer than 3 point... It's not because racecar, at least in my mind.
Unfortunately I think my mother will have difficulties in selling her 306 just for that reason, its ash-tray is currently full of my brother's cigarette butts. I just about gag whenever I have to move it to get my car out in the mornings. The smell will never leave. Having a automatic gearbox in a car that I see far more commonly as a manual (a rare case here) may count in it's favour, however.
It's bad enough having the smell on his clothes when he sits in the passenger seat after I pick him up from work. Washing the seat-cover every-so-often seems to work at removing any residual smoke smell seems to work for the moment, however.
My co-worker got a nearly new Yaris (he cares more about MPG going to and from work than anything else) really cheap because the owner was a smoker and he was sucessful in getting the smoke smell out but it took time and effort. He borrowed my Bissel Little Green shampooer, took out the seats and went to town on everything including the head liner with it.
Between that and liberal use of fabreeze the car doesn't smell like smoke any more.
... including the head liner with it.
When the salesman says "Before I let you take the wheel, I'll give do one circle around the block so you can see what I'm doing to help drive smoothly." These included things like shifting the automatic gearbox into neutral at every stop sign and reving the nuts off it before shifting it back into drive at about 2800rpm or else the car would stall, and showing me how to tighten a screw, with the car's key, inside the center console where a household doorknob strike plate was used as a sort of washer to keep the broken-off armrest/storage unit from coming loose while resting your arm on it, and tapping the brakes 2-3 times before applying them when you actually mean to. Or needing two people to extent the "automatic" retractable car antenna which would retract on it's own when the car was shut down, but would require someone holding down the button while someone else pulled on the antenna to raise it.
Well, yes. There IS a sure way to take off the smell of cigarette from a car, without swapping any piece, but it involves disassembling the interior and carefully and properly wash any single piece of it, possibly even the internal part of the bodywork. Works fine and you don't need Febreeze, only much time, a service manual of the car, some mechanical skills and tools, and a serious DIY attitude.
Well, you'll have to swap the ashtray cup anyway.
I'm tellin' ya: LeMons/ChumpCar forums.Haha, believe me, if I were to sell my hunk o junk, i'd be doing every trick in the book, (neutral at stoplights, warming it up to get rid of the death rattle, etc.)
Cheap-looking interior and lousy seats.
If I'm gonna spend hours in there, I don't wanna feel appalled by what I feel and look at. Apart from that, I'm open to anything.
Cheap-looking interior and lousy seats.
If I'm gonna spend hours in there, I don't wanna feel appalled by what I feel and look at. Apart from that, I'm open to anything.
But over the years I learned to never buy a used car from private or from one of those used car places by the side of the road. Go to a brand dealership instead. They offer good warranty conditions these days and can organize the car you want by searching their countrywide database.
If I were looking for a new car, I'd have a try on getting my hands on a W211 Mercedes E420 CDI from the last batch they made. I like the looks of both outside and inside more than the current E-Class and all the troubles the W211 had, were sorted out in the end. The temptation of getting a 313 HP V8 diesel is very strong
I would be weary of getting anything with an aftermarket subwoofer. They usually require aftermarket amps and a decent amount of wiring to power them (usually will have to run a line straight to the battery terminal), there are just too many possible ways to fuck it up.I found one: sub boxes taking up the entire trunk. A factory installed or small aftermarket one mounted to the trunk sidewall is fine. Ones that destroy any hope of actually using the trunk or folding down the rear seats because they're in the center of the trunk is not. Sadly I've come across many good choices on CL that I dismissed due to this issue.
I agree completely. I have also had some nice experiences with Japanese cars. One of my friends used to own a Nissan 200SX, EU-Spec, and it was very good to drive despite only having 168hp. One time we took some old winter tires, pulled out the studs and stuck them on the rear axle. Then we went to a big parking lot and were sliding about the wholenight. That was probably the most fun I have ever had with Japanese cars. I have driven some since, like some EVOs but they haven?t been as much fun since you see and know that the car will be fun to drive. The 200SX looks boring and the interior is a joke but the mechanics are just superb. The feel that you are really driving something much nicer than you anticipated is hard to beat.I agree about BMWs. I have never owned one and I rarely drive them, but every single time I've felt at home. Pedals, gearchange and steering just work. And differences in basic ergonomics are suprisingly same in E30 and E90. Basic controls have same kind of feel (as long as the car has power steering). No I'm not going to say E90 can match the feel of the road of E30, but you can still sense some basic dna which is in both of them.
As for the Japanese brands, I know what you mean. I used to hate them before I had any experiences. Let's face it, things like Auris, Corolla and Avensis are boring. Many years ago I got to drive IS200 and I realized it might have a Lexus badge and PR shots are from a beige car, but it was never designed to be a Lexus. It's Toyota Altezza and it was Toyotas JDM rival to E46 BMW, and in that class handling and other things matter. So the end result was maybe extremely underpowered and bit cheap inside, but the straight six howled in a way you knew the engineers wanted you to hear it and it was extremely good to drive for a family sedan.
At that point I realized Japanese manufacturers make dull daily driver's for people who don't care about driving. They want reliable, comfortable enough cars to move from A to B. That's most of the Japanese cars. But when they do make a car that's targeted for a more serious driving they do know how to do it extremely well. The difference to European manufacturers is, that companies like Ford make all of it's cars so that they're nice to drive for what they're, then other companies do cars that are fine, but don't even try to set your pants to fire. There's a general philosophy behind the whole model range. Japanese on the other hand may build the most boring moving shed ever made to transport people and on the next day they can build one of the greatest driver's cars ever made. Just look at Nissan Europe's models. 370Z and GT-R share their place on the line up with the most utter crap ever made.
Today some Japanese manufacturers have a bit more European philosophy, like most of Mazda's models are actually pretty nice to drive etc, but the point of the story is, don't make general assumptions based on badge or country it's made/designed in. Every single manufacturer has made utter crap and most of them have had their moments of glory as well.